1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera capable of making a decision as to the state of exposure during photography and recording the resultant photographic information on a film to specify a method of producing photographic prints from the film, and, more particularly, to an information recording method for recording such photographic information.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional process for producing prints from a developed negative film through the printing processing of an automatic printer includes the steps of finding the integral transmission density of the whole of each individual exposed frame from the light transmitted therethrough, determining an amount of print exposure for each individual exposed frame, and performing printing processing on the basis of the amount of print exposure on a frame-by-frame basis, thereby compensating for exposure fluctuations and color failure occurring during photography and producing prints each having an optimum density and color balance.
However, such a printing method using an automatic printer assumes a uniform printing finish and is, therefore, unable to reflect the image-creating intention of each individual photographer. For example, if a person is photographed at a correct exposure level under backlighting conditions, the person will be printed as a shaded (or dark) photographic image through automatic printing based on the amount of print exposure determined depending on a high-luminance portion which surrounds the person.
To cope with the printing problem involved in the automatic printer, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 3-72338 entitled "CAMERA AND PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTER" discloses a system in which a mark indicating that no exposure compensation is needed is recorded on a film during photography and, during printing, an automatic printer determines whether automatic compensation for the amount of print exposure is needed, by making a decision as to the presence or absence of such mark. According to this system, during printing, if the automatic printer detects the mark recorded on the film during photography, the automatic printer performs printing based on a reference amount of print exposure (the amount of print exposure required to produce a print of optimum density and color balance from a normally exposure-controlled negative film) without performing automatic compensation for the amount of print exposure of each individual frame.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 4-319933 entitled "PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING METHOD" discloses a system suitable for use with a camera or the like having an AE (automatic exposure) function of high exposure accuracy. According to the system, "information indicating that the amount of exposure has been determined by a multiple-point light measuring system or information indicating that the amount of exposure has been determined from the value of light measured when focusing was performed by an autofocus system" is recorded on a film in the form of a bar code or the like. During printing, a printer determines whether the bar code is recorded on the film, and if there is no such information recording, the printer performs the processing of compensating for the amount of print exposure for each individual frame. If there is such information recording, the printer obtains the integral transmission densities of all frames of the film and determines a reference amount of print exposure on the basis of an average value of the integral transmission densities.
In addition, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 5-127271 entitled "PHOTOGRAPHIC-PRINT PRODUCING METHOD" discloses a system suitable for use with recent cameras or the like capable of performing high-precision exposure control which does not require a large amount of compensation for the amount of print exposure because of its uniform exposure control. This system is arranged to switch a print exposure method by determining whether discrimination information is recorded on a film. Specifically, during photography, each time a frame is exposed under correct exposure control by a camera, the camera records discrimination information on an information recording part for the frame in the form of a bar code or the like. During printing, a printer individually reads the discrimination information for each of the frames, and if an information recording part on which the discrimination information is recorded is detected, the printer performs printing of the corresponding frame with a predetermined time of timer exposure by slightly modifying a fixed amount of print exposure on the basis of a deviation of the speed of the film. If an information recording part on which the discrimination information is not recorded is detected, the printer performs automatic printing of the corresponding frame by automatically compensating for the amount of print exposure.
Any of the above-described conventional methods has a number of problems. One problem is that even if all frames of one film are correctly exposed by a camera, the same information indicative of correct exposure must be recorded for each individual frame of the frame, so that it is impossible to effectively use the information recording parts of the film. Another problem is that a printer must make a decision as to the state of exposure of each individual frame by reading the same information therefrom on a frame-by-frame basis by means of a reader device, such as a bar code reader, so that the processing capability of the printer is lowered.
The pace of improvement of the performance of cameras themselves has recently been accelerated, and recent cameras have multiple functions and are highly precisely controlled so that a main subject can be correctly exposed under exposure control using AF control and AE control. For example, a camera has been provided which has multiple distance measuring points to used for AF as well as multiple light measuring areas corresponding to the respective distance measuring points. During photography using such a camera, if a photographer selects a main subject by means of a visual line, the camera automatically focuses the main subject and performs light measurement corresponding to the main subject, thereby performing exposure control to optimize the negative density of the main subject. Since all frames of one film are correctly exposed in this manner, it becomes less necessary to compensate for the amount of print exposure. In such a situation, recording of the same information for each individual frame leads to the remarkable problem that the information recording parts of the respective frames of a film cannot be effectively used and the processing capability of a printer is lowered.